1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slot symbol game suitable for use in casinos and other gaming enterprises. The invention further relates to mechanical, electromechanical or video gaming play that provides, in addition to traditional credits or awards, bonus points that can be optionally redeemed for benefits or saved as entries in a progressive game-related event.
2. Background of the Art
Gaming machines, and in particular slot machine games, have grown exponentially in numbers in the last twenty years, as have the revenues generated by such devices. Since it is estimated that at least 70% of any casino's revenue are now provided by gaming machines, there is increasingly fierce competition among the machine manufacturers to attract and maintain customers with game content.
Slot manufacturers strive to differentiate their machines by adding unique features and methods, and these proprietary innovations are designed to initially attract a player to a particular slot machine and then retain the player's interest for protracted periods of time.
Especially in the last decade, primary or base machine games have been augmented by special features that are particularly popular with the gaming public. Two of the most popular features are known in the art as bonus game play and progressive game play. Bonus game play may consist of certain enhancements to the base game play, such as free spins and multipliers, or it may add a separate bonus game event that either replaces the base game on the screen or is displayed in a second screen. In many cases the awards that may be won in a bonus game are more lucrative than base game pays, so the player is encouraged to play for longer periods until the bonus opportunity is achieved. Progressive game play usually involves linking slot machines in a network, with a portion of each player's wager being utilized to fund a jackpot award. The jackpot award most commonly starts at a minimum (or “seed”) amount, and increases as each wager is made. When a player hits a “triggering event” (e.g., a particular symbol combination along a particular wagered payline, or a particular number of scatter pay symbols, for instance), the player wins the progressive jackpot, which can be a life-changing amount. Even though the base game payouts are usually decremented or reduced in comparison to games without jackpot events to allow for the incrementing contributions to the jackpot, progressive game play remains enormously popular due to jackpots that can reach well into the millions of dollars.
Certain prior art has attempted to enhance the known slot machine game play.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,223,172 (Baerlocher, et al.) provides a gaming device having a bonus scheme, wherein the player may choose when to play a bonus scheme, so long as the player is qualified to do so. The method of qualifying the player to enter the bonus round connects or links the base game operation of the gaming device with the bonus scheme. The reels of the base game contain symbols which alone or in combination with other symbols yield one or more bonus awards to a player. The bonus awards are escrowed and displayed a bonus award escrow display. Once the player obtains a single bonus award, the player becomes eligible or qualified to play the bonus round and the player may choose to do so at any time. The player can accumulate bonus awards and use multiple bonus awards at one time.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,041 (Tessmer, et al.) provides a method of weighting odds in shared bonus events and gaming systems and devices configured for weighting odds in shared bonus events. A number of participations or entries by the same gaming machine or player entity may be obtained for a shared bonus event in association with play of a base or primary game, allowing the odds of winning the shared bonus event to be weighted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,887,154 (Luciano, et al.) discloses a progressive system (local and wide area) where a primary and secondary progressive meter is maintained. When a progressive win event occurs, there are two payouts: the first payout (defined by the primary meter) is paid to the player triggering the progressive payout event; the second payout (defined by the secondary meter) is paid to other players (or game devices) having “active” or “enrolled” status at the time of the primary payout event. The method automates the “shared” win, including means for readily determining “active” players. The progressive prizes may be funded using traditional methods (e.g., percentage of wagers, marketing budget). The progressive prizes may also be funded using expired prizes which have expired or lapsed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,361 (Sharpless, et al.) includes a system, apparatus and method for providing a bonus game which may be shared competitively, collaboratively or both among a plurality of players. Each player participating in the bonus game generates entries thereto in association with play of a base, or primary, game played on an individual gaming device. Players may also reintroduce entries for the bonus game that were generated on a gaming device at an earlier time to a different gaming device. Each gaming device is in communication with a controller that operates the shared bonus game and may communicate with or integrate a player tracking system. During the shared bonus game, the controller is configured to randomly select a bonus award amount that may be consistent with the par sheets, or pay tables, associated with the gaming devices, or separate therefrom. The controller is also configured to randomly select a winning entry from among all of the qualified entries and provide the bonus award amount to the player that placed the winning entry.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,895 (Jones, et al.) discusses a method for including a progressive jackpot component in a live casino table game. In addition to playing a live casino table game, each player makes an additional wager at the beginning of each hand that makes that player eligible to win all or part of a jackpot. If during the play of the hand a player is dealt a predetermined arrangement of cards, the player wins a preselected percentage of the jackpot amount. The jackpot is progressive in that undistributed amounts of the jackpot carry over to the next hand. Apparatus is provided to receive each gaming token wagered for the jackpot component, to increment the jackpot meter which displays the jackpot amount, to decrement the jackpot meter whenever a winning hand is paid and to reset the apparatus for the next hand.
United States Patent Application No. 20070077990 (Cuddy, et al.) discloses a gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines. Upon a suitable triggering event at a triggering gaming device in the gaming system a bonus event occurs. When the bonus event occurs, the players actively playing each auxiliary gaming device in the gaming system are each provided a chance to participate in the bonus event as well. Each remaining gaming device's chance of participating in the bonus event is based on the individual accumulated bonus event pool for that gaming device.
United States Patent Application No. 20070072673 (Bennett, et al.) discloses a gaming machine that has a display and a game controller arranged to control images displayed on the display. The game controller is arranged to play a game wherein one or more random events arc caused to be displayed on the display and, if a predefined winning event results, the machine awards a prize which is credited to a credit meter of the machine. The credit meter includes two meter displays, a first meter display indicating credit which is available for expenditure in the machine to play at least one game and a second meter display indicating credit set aside by at least one of a player and the game controller and which credit is unavailable to the player for wagering on a game but which is only available by termination of a playing session.
United States Patent Application No. 20070054728 (Hood) describes a gaming device and method in which a portion of each wager is divided between at least two escrow accounts. One account may serve as a conventional progressive pool (possibly networked across a number of gaming devices), while another may serve as a gaming device or player specific cache account. When the player achieves a predetermined winning combination he triggers a game feature, the “Progressive Challenge,” in which the player may elect to exercise the option to wager none, some or all of the amount in the device specific cache account in an attempt to win some or the entire amount in the conventional progressive pool account. If the player fails to win, the amount the player wagered from the device specific cache may be transferred to the conventional progressive pool. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, a portion of each wager is divided between two escrow accounts. One account serves as a conventional progressive pool (possibly networked across a number of gaming devices), while the other serves as a gaming device specific cache account. When the player hits a predetermined winning combination he triggers a game feature, the “Progressive Challenge,” in which the player is given the option to wager either some or all of the amount in the device specific cache account in an attempt to win some or the entire amount of the conventional progressive pool account. If the player fails to win, the amount the player wagered from the device specific cache is transferred to the conventional progressive pool.
United States Patent Application No. 20070026924 (Taylor) teaches a gaming device wherein various events pay players in multiple classes of credits. One class of special credits has no cash value and may only be rewagered in an attempt to win traditional cash-equivalent credits. The player decides when to play a bonus game where the special credits are bet.
United States Patent Application No. 20070004505 (Walker, et al.) describes a method for providing entry into a bonus game at a gaming device, where the bonus games may occur at predictable times and may payout predictable amounts. In one or more embodiments, a gaming device may provide a guaranteed entry into a bonus game every hour on the hour, so long as a player meets one or more criteria. Criteria may include a total amount wagered, a total number of handle pulls completed, or a total amount of time spent at a gaming device. One or more embodiments provide a method for withholding value from a player in order that the value may be delivered later in the form of a guaranteed entry into a bonus game. One or more embodiments provide a method whereby multiple gaming devices may provide entry in bonus rounds simultaneously, thereby creating mutually reinforcing sounds and visual displays.
United States Patent Application No. 20060281516 (Duhamel, et al.) discloses a method of providing a feature game using a primary game outcome, comprising: evaluating a primary game outcome according to feature game rules, and when the primary game outcome comprises a feature-point-awarding outcome, modifying a total feature point value. The total feature point value is compared to a target range of values and a feature prize is awarded if the total feature point value is comprised in the target range of values.
United States Patent Application No. 20060052162 (Soukup, et al.) teaches a system and method establish a progressive jackpot award associated with a machine useable by a user. The user has a user account stored in a computer connected to the machine. The computer includes a database for storing user account data including bonus points associated with the user. The progressive jackpot award has an associated payout value. The user uses the bonus points on the machine and an incremental number is added to the payout value of the progressive jackpot award as a function of the number of bonus points used by the user.
United States Patent Application No. 20050014553 (Byrne) discloses a collateral gambling game which can be won by players on, at least, one specific event occurring in the principal game; the collateral game being separate from the principal game, but won when any of the possible winning events occur in the principal game, with the payment to the player being calculated from the total value available for the game divided by the total number of players who bet on the specific winning event. The game gives a possibility for a large number of players to share in the success of a single player who has successfully won the main game. It may be used with various types of games, including those using electronic gaming machines.